Power Back On--Hurricanes Are Political

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​We finally got power back today after Hurricane Beryl.

Thanks for nothing Centerpoint. 

(Above you see a Houston home I saw on my travels waiting for Centerpoint to turn the lights back on.)

Hurricanes are political. For one thing, there is little dispute today that climate change makes the storms more potent. And with Hurricane Beryl specifically, the poor response by Centerpoint, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's attacks on Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Mayor Whitmire's endless blustering about whatever is in his mind at the moment, give the storm its own distinct politics.     

On the day of the hurricane, I turned off KPRC Channel 2 when they cut away from Lina Hidalgo when she started discussing the storm in Spanish. No need for a TV station to do that in a place like Houston/Harris County.

And then there are the endless calls for us to be "Houston Strong." First Responder this and Let's Come Together that. I'm tired of being Houston Strong. The storms worsen inequality and stress people out. I still recall how Hurricane Ike back in 2008 was used to force people in subsidized housing to leave Galveston. Let's address the causes and impacts of the storms. 

A good way to move forward would be to remove Houston Republican Councilwoman Twila Carter as Chair of Council's Resilience Committee. Councilwoman Carter supports a climate-denying insurrectionist felon for President of the United Sates. Is this type judgment a good bet to help lead Houston's fight to recover from Beryl and to prepare for the next storm?

​I don't think so. It's important that we be willing to name names at the local level as we fight for a livable future for Houston. And it is important that we have greater focus on Houston City Council.  

Here we go again with another round of recovery. Let's see how far we get in this recovery before the next storm.    

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